Mail

If you want to send me a package I finally got good idea to pass on.
Several years ago I decided that it would make a lot of sense to
celebrate every holiday a week late so that you could take advantage
of all of the post holiday sales. Living in Namibia I can celebrate
holidays pretty much whenever I want and since mail takes so long to
get here, if it ever does, you should wait until after the holiday has
already happened before you send me anything. For example, I would
love a random Halloween package and what better time to get stuff for
such a gift as right after Halloween when everything goes on sale. I
don't mind eating black and orange peanut M&Ms in December. Unless
you're incredibly lucky or can work magic I won't get anything on the
proper day or even the right month anyway so lets beat the system and
forget about normal holidays. I'll celebrate everything six weeks
after the real holiday and maybe have some holiday themed candy that
was half price to enjoy it with.

For real, this is the mail situation. The ministry of education didn't
pay the bill for the school's po box so all of my mail was rejected
for at least a two week period. I received a hand delivered letter
that had been posted in Namibia on Feb. 8, it was stamped in
Grootfontein on March 15, and again in Grootfontein on March 29 when
it was returned to the sender. You can do the math on when anything
you sent might have arrived but for those two weeks at least, we're
probably out of luck. You might get it back but I don't have a lot of
faith in anything making it back through customs and across the ocean
again. The only mail I have actually gotten recently are birthday
cards from Grandma Cornett and Aunt Connie. Letters seem to take about
a month and packages anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months depending on
how you shipped it. This is just for informations sake, I am only
frustrated with the mail services here and just thankful for anything
that does come through. I will try to send a note whenever something
does arrive.

The only partial solution I have for the mail situation is that I am
going to open my own box at the post office next time I am in town.
Its only a modest annual fee so I would rather pay some now than have
this happen again next year if the ministry doesn't pay the bill for
the school again. Once I get that opened I will be sure to alert you,
but in the meantime the 2004 box should be fine for the next year as
far as not getting things bounced. Its just a matter of getting
someone to collect the mail since I don't have a key.

The group that built that playground is leaving tomorrow and I am
mostly glad to see them go. That sounds pretty harsh so let me
explain a little. Many of the people in the group have been pleasant
but there are some that are annoying me to no end. I was able to give
them a brief history lesson last night which was nice but the
disparaging comments are difficult to deal with. The first time I was
around the group I was ready to actively avoid them for the rest of
the week, but after a little more time I identified the one ringleader
of the awful comments. The others seemed to just be feeding off the
one that is the worst because they are generally ok to be around. I
think part of my attitude is like that of an older brother, I can make
negative observations about life in the village but you'd better not
even think about it. I have felt the need to defend many things and
people while I have been around the group from Raleigh and I don't
like having to do that. Also, the group of builders is mixed, mostly
Brits, 3 Namibians and one from Hong Kong. The most disappointing
thing about having them all here is that they are completely separate
and the Brits, not all but nearly all, treat the Namibians with
unveiled contempt. I don't know what all has happened before I showed
up, but the separation and disdain is palpable. I had idealistically
imagined that the group would get along in a more unified fashion and
that they would interact with each other as peers. And especially that
the Brits would include the minority aspects of the group instead of
alienating them and then mistreating them. The Brits in the group
don't understand much about Namibia, which is understandable with the
short time they have been here, but they are not very understanding or
willing to adapt to how things work here. I will be glad when they are
gone, but I am pleased with the playground they constructed. The
positive side is that with all these outsiders in the village I feel
much more like an insider. I have intentionally spoken to some of the
Brits in Namlish that I know they won't understand because it makes me
feel like I belong here a little more. That might be a little bit
spiteful, but too bad. If you're going to rag on my home and the
people I live with I don't mind leaving you confused.